Method for Configuring a Shellfish Dredge

ABSTRACT

A method for configuring a shellfish dredge is described. In an embodiment of the invention, a bag on a shellfish dredge has a front side and a back side and is attached to a tow. The front side of the bag has a pair of end peaks, one or more central peaks and an open area for catching shellfish. The end peaks are attached to the tow and the central peaks are attached to vertical chains connected to the tow. The bag is of a depth to catch and contain shellfish.

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.11/946,904, filed on Nov. 29, 2007.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to the field of collecting shellfish andmore specifically to a method for configuring a shellfish dredge.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Fishing for shellfish, like scallops, has traditionally been done byusing a shellfish dredge. Shellfish dredge technology has remainedrelatively unchanged for many decades. A shellfish dredge traditionallyconsists of a metal towing mechanism connected to a bag. The towingmechanism runs along the ocean floor and the shellfish, which rest onthe ocean floor, are captured in the bag. The bag is similar in shape toa purse and has a deep-scooped ocean-floor side that runs along theocean floor, a pocket side that creates the pocket space for theshellfish to lie and a side panel connecting the ocean-floor side to thepocket side. The bag has a scooped metal chain on the top perimeter ofthe ocean-floor side, which is supposed to apply additional pressure tothe ocean floor, keeping the bag in constant and full contact with theocean floor. However, in practice, only the endpoints of the scoopedchain, where the bag is attached to the towing mechanism, come in fullcontact with the ocean floor. These portions often become worn outquickly and the entire chain needs to be replaced. The remaining portionof the chain does not get worn out and remains in better condition, butstill needs to be replaced due to the worn out endpoints.

The worn out endpoint sections of the scooped chain also correspond tothe sections of the bag that are actually catching a large majority ofthe shellfish. The region where the bag and chain connect to the towingmechanism creates a triangular shape and comes to a peak at the pointsof attachment. During use, shellfish are predominantly collected inthese peak regions of the bag, with the remaining bag being primarilyempty. The entire center region is not in constant and full contact withthe ocean floor because it does not have the additional pressure createdby the peaks and the towing mechanism and thus is not capturing all theshellfish. The current method of configuring a shellfish dredge is onlycapturing in the bag a small percentage of the shellfish capable ofbeing caught.

The opening of the bag, the capture area, represents the area where theshellfish enter and is traditionally shaped like a semi-circle. The topedges of the circle, the end peaks, are connected to the towingmechanism.

In recent years, the environmental impact of shellfish dredging has comeunder more scrutiny. Environmental regulations address the need to keepprotected sea-animals from inadvertently getting caught in the shellfishdredge bag. These regulations often require additional chains andnetting to be placed on the bag. Additionally, due to the desire topreserve the ocean bottom, there is an environmental advantage indecreasing the bottom time, the amount of time that a dredge spends onthe ocean floor. At the same time, there is an economic and consumerneed to preserve or increase the shellfish yields.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Embodiments of the invention are concerned with a method for improvingshellfish yields, decreasing the time needed on the ocean bottom andmaximizing the use of the metal chains, while still conforming toenvironmental needs and regulations. A traditional bag is reconfiguredto create an additional section for collecting shellfish. This can bedone while still complying with environmental regulations. Byreconfiguring the bag to have an additional section, additional regionsof force and pressure are created for catching the shellfish. Thisincrease in force is done without significantly reducing the shellfishcapture area of the bag as a whole, and therefore leads to an increasein shellfish that are caught.

The bag can also be configured to have multiple additional sections. Theadditional sections create more regions for shellfish to enter. By usingmore of the bag to catch shellfish, more of the scooped metal chain willbe used to catch shellfish. The bag can further be configured to createa wider capture area. The overall configuration of the bag can beoptimized to deal with the availability of shellfish and environmentalregulations in place with regards to bottom time and the amount ofshellfish that are allowed to be collected.

It is an object of the invention to increase the shellfish caught in thebag of a shellfish dredge. It is a further object of the invention tomaximize use of the bag area. It is a further object of the invention tomore optimally use the scooped metal chain on the front side of the bag.It is a further object of the invention to be able to reduce bottom timewithout reducing corresponding shellfish yields.

In order to improve performance of the chain bag, reduce ocean bottomtime and improve use of the scooped chain, the inventor has come up witha method of modifying and configuring a shellfish dredge bag.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will be understood more fully from the detaileddescription that follows and from the accompanying drawings, whichhowever, should not be taken to limit the invention to the specificembodiments shown, but are for explanation and understanding only.

FIG. 1 illustrates a plan view of the ocean-floor side of an embodimentof the invention.

FIG. 2 a illustrates a profile top view of an embodiment of theinvention, as used on ocean floor.

FIG. 2 b illustrates a side view of an embodiment of the invention,where towing frame meets the bag.

FIG. 3 illustrates a plan view example of the ocean-floor side ofanother embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

As disclosed in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, there is a shellfish dredge 30, whichis used to catch shellfish situated along the ocean floor. The shellfishdredge is comprised of a towing frame 10 and a bag 20. The towing frameis made up of a strong metal, such as steel. It has a hook 11, whichallows the dredge 30 to be towed at the ocean surface. The towing frame10 has a cutting bar 15 and a pair of angled frame bars 16. The towingframe 10 has one or more support bars 12 for added strength. The cuttingbar 15, angled frame bars 16 and support bars 12 make up the frame andstructure of the towing mechanism 10. It is appreciated that additionalbraces and bars can be added to the towing frame 10 for increasedstrength and support. The front side of the cutting bar 15 runs alongthe ocean floor and the back side of the cutting bar 15 is attached tothe angled frame bars 16. The angled frame bars 16 are attached to thecutting bar 15 and the hook 11. It is appreciated that an additionalsupport mechanism may be located at hook 11 to assist in securing theangled frame bars 16. The support bars 12 are connected between thefloor bar 15 and the angled frame bars 16.

A water pressure plate 13 is attached as the cutting bar 15, on the sidethat does not run along the ocean floor. The water pressure plate 13 issloped and angled in shape and is used to direct the ocean water in sucha manner as to keep the shellfish dredge 30 on the ocean floor.

There are a pair of floor plates 14, attached at the endpoints of thecutting bar 15. The floor plates 14 and cutting bar are in contact withthe ocean floor and are used to attach the bag 20 to the towingmechanism 10.

Shellfish are caught and stored in the bag 20. The bag 20 is comprisedof an ocean-floor side 21, a pocket side 22 and a side panel 27. Thepocket side 22 is attached to the pressure plate 13. The pocket side 22and side panel 27 can be made up of a netting material, capable ofkeeping shellfish from leaving the bag. Neither the pocket side 22 northe side panel 27 are meant to come in contact with the ocean floor. Thepurpose of the pocket side 22 and side panel 27 are to create the spaceneeded to store caught shellfish.

The ocean-floor side 21 comes in contact with the ocean floor. It ismade up of a connection of metal rings and links 23. The metal rings arecircular in shape. It is appreciated that the size of the rings affectsthe size of the shellfish that the bag is capable of holding. It is alsoappreciated that environmental regulations may specify the size of therings. The rings are linked together in such a manner as to create theshape of the front side 21. The metal rings and links 23 are joinedtogether such that a pair of end peaks 28 are created, which can beattached to the floor plates 14. The metal rings and links 23 are joinedtogether such that an open area is created between the end peaks 28,that is capable of capturing the shellfish. The upper portion of theocean-floor side 21 has a detachable scoop chain 24 attached along thetop perimeter. The endpoints of the ocean-floor side 21 and scoop chain24 are securely attached to the floor plates 14.

As represented in FIGS. 1, 2 a and 3, one or more support chains 25 areconnected between the cutting bar 15 and the scoop chain 24. The supportchain 25 must remain taut to keep the bag 20 from changing shape orrising off the ocean floor. The length of the vertical chains 25, thatis, the distance between the cutting bar 15 and scoop chain 24, can beadjusted by adding or removing chain links, so that the support chain 25remains taut. The object chains 26 in FIGS. 1 and 2 a create a grid-likepattern with the support chains 25 and are securely attached to thetowing mechanism 10. The object chains 26 may be attached to the cuttingbar 15, the floor plates 14 or an additional support brace that issecurely fixed to the towing mechanism 10. The purpose of the grid-likepattern created by the support chains 25 and object chains 26 are tokeep large objects from entering the bag 20. The object chains mustremain securely attached to the towing mechanism 10 to overcome theforce of large objects, such as rocks. The horizontal, animal chains 29in FIG. 3 are attached to the scoop chain 24 and create a grid-likepattern with the support chains 25. The purpose of the vertical chains25 and animal chains 29 is to meet environmental regulations to keeplarger animals, like turtles, from entering and getting caught in thebag 20.

In an embodiment of the invention, the metal rings and links 23 of thefront side 21 are configured such that a central peak 31 is created.This is done by adding additional metal rings and links to the center ofthe front side 21 in the shape of a triangle. The scoop chain 24 must beattached to conform to the top perimeter of the front side 21. The scoopchain 24 may be adjusted so that it's length can cover the perimeterbetween the peaks 28. The tip of the central peak 31 is then attached tothe support chain 25 that is directly above it. The length of thesupport chain 25, that is, the distance between the cutting bar 15 andscoop chain 24, must be adjusted so that it remains taut when connectedto the central peak 31.

By creating the central peak 31 and attaching it to the support chain25, additional downward force is created at the central peak 31,allowing more of the scooped chain 24 to run along the ocean floor andallowing the bag 20 to stay in more constant contact with the oceanfloor so that more shellfish can be captured. This additional captureregion is created without significantly reducing the overall capturearea of the bag 20. It is appreciated that the distance between theframe 10 and the central peak 31 should not be too small or allow thecentral peak 31 to come too close to the cutting bar 15, as that willgreatly minimize the capture area of the bag 20. In addition, if theheight of the peak is too close to the cutting bar, the ability tosecurely connect the object chains 26 to the towing mechanism 10 willnot be possible.

FIG. 2 b shows a side view of the towing frame and bag 20. As the towingframe 10 runs along the ocean floor, it pulls the bag 20 and allowsshellfish to be collected in the area between the ocean-floor side 21and the pocket side 22 of the bag 20.

In another embodiment of the invention, one or more additional centralpeaks 31 may be created on the ocean-floor side 21. A support chain 25must be positioned to attach to each additional central peak 31. It isappreciated that having an excessive number of central peaks 31 mayreduce the capture area significantly. The one or more additionalcentral peaks 31 do not have to be equal in height to one another.

The ocean-floor side 21 may also be configured such that the end peaks28 have a steeper incline and thus create a wider capture area for theshellfish. It is appreciated that the ocean-floor side 21 should not beconfigured to go too low to the bottom of the bag 20 or the ocean-floorside 21 will not be able to contain all of the shellfish.

The above description is included to illustrate embodiments of thepresent invention and is not meant to limit the scope of the invention.The scope of the invention is to be limited only by the followingclaims.

1. A method for configuring a shellfish bag comprising: joining togethera series of rings and links to form an ocean floor side of said bag,wherein rings and links are configured to create a pair of end peaks, acenter peak, and an open area for capturing shellfish; securing a chainalong top perimeter of ocean floor side of bag; attaching said oceanfloor side of bag to a pocket side of said bag wherein pocket side hassufficient depth to hold contents of said bag; and attaching said centerpeak to a support chain wherein said support chain is connected to atowing frame, wherein the length of support chain from point ofattachment at towing frame to center peak is such that the support chainsupports the shape of said bag and said center peak and allows centerpeak to remain in contact with ocean floor; and wherein distance betweentowing frame to center peak is greater than distance between towingframe to end peaks.
 2. The method of claim 1 wherein said chain can bedetached from ocean floor side of bag and elongated to accommodateadditional rings and links.
 3. A shellfish bag, capable of attaching toa towing frame, comprising: an ocean floor side, comprising a series ofrings and links, wherein rings and links are configured to create a pairof end peaks, a center peak, and an open area for capturing shellfishand further comprising a lining along top perimeter; and a pocket side,having sufficient depth to hold contents of said bag.
 4. The shellfishbag of claim 3, wherein the lining along the top perimeter of the oceanfloor side is a metal chain.
 5. The shellfish bag of claim 3, whereinthe lining along the top perimeter of the ocean floor side is a cable.